The next stages in returning humans to the Moon are now on display for all to see. The world’s most powerful rocket, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), was hauled out across the 6-kilometer trail between the Vehicle Assembly Building and the historic Launch Pad 39B, from which Apollo 10, Skylab, and the 53 Space Shuttle launched, in the late hours of yesterday. The massive rocket took over 11 hours to maneuver. The SLS rollout is a critical milestone in the preparation for Artemis I, an uncrewed mission that will test the rocket and the Orion capsule, which will return humans to the Moon’s surface within this decade, including the first woman and the first person of color.
For the time being, SLS will have a wet dress rehearsal. The adjective “wet” comes to mind. The rocket, which when fully loaded weighs 2.6 million kilograms (5.75 million pounds), will receive over 3.2 million liters (700,000 gallons) of cryogenic propellant in April and will be tested as if it were about to launch. The test will be done as a scrub, which refers to a launch that was canceled, with the countdown reaching 10 seconds before lift-off. Given how much is at stake, both figuratively and physically, everything must be thoroughly tried and rested.
The rocket will return to the Vehicle Assembly Building on the same crawler that has taken numerous missions to the same launchpads once the wet dress rehearsal is completed. The crawler will transport the rocket back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, where the extended platforms will reconnect the rocket to the surrounding region. Scientists and engineers will get access to the rocket and remove the sensors that were installed to monitor the wet dress rehearsal of the rocket. They’ll also charge all of the systems’ batteries, including the Orion capsules, as well as add extra cargo and do final inspections.
It has been our privilege to shepherd America’s new super heavy-lift rocket – a launch vehicle unlike any other – from design through testing, production, assembly, and now the launch of the Artemis I test mission as Program Manager and Chief Engineer for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS). In this attempt, we’d want to express our gratitude to our team members, stakeholders, and industry partners. This is America’s rocket, and without you, we wouldn’t have made it to the launch pad.
